Pages

Monday, November 28, 2011

So I just have to add this little tid-bit. I bought 2 pairs of black boots yesterday. They are in the mail to me...soon. lol When I get them I will share a photo with you. I spent too much money but they were on sale and I don't care, I decided I was worth it.

As I've said many times I don't do change well. This is one of those times. I am not going to touch on my thoughts of the expansion here but I do want to wonder about the bears that will be coming to Azeroth soon.

When we all first heard that Blizzard had TM'd "Mists of Pandaria", really we all knew that would be the next expansion. And yet, I, not unlike many others, decided it was best to live in denial and hope that maybe this was a joke.

Ok, so don't leave me quite yet I know that many people are excited about them and I'm not going to threaten to quit just because I didn't really think they'd be "cool" enough for WoW. In fact I think it's fine. I played them at Blizzcon and thought they were very well done and am curious to see what the female variety will look like since all my toons are female. Yes, I will probably roll one too. I'm interested in seeing and feeling out the monk healing mechanics. I enjoy Disc Atonement so maybe I'll like this one as well. Not that I actually go out and heal instances on my priest. I am a chickenshit closet healer. I won't go unless I can go with guildies.....

I digress....

What really turned me off was the thought of pandas. I know, we have dogs and squid-faced people, cows and other tusked ani-morphs; pandas are not a stretch. It just doesn't seem right to me. The idea of bouncing pandas doesn't do it for me. It's like throwing in Winnie the Pooh. It's weird.

The lore also doesn't sit well with me. There is really not much in game that tends to lore with Pandas. I know there are lore people out there that are going to tell me I'm way off and they've been there all along. Maybe I just haven't noticed or haven't looked. Should I have to look?

The look of the pandas seems very well done. The animations are cool. I tried emotes but they weren't working or turned on for the demo, which was a bummer. Again, I am anxious to see the females.

I trust that Blizz will make it seem as if they've been here all along
but until then I will just...I don't know.
I'm not pissed, I'm not sad
or moping or pouting or excited, just...waiting. I have no thrill for the pandas.
The expansion yes. The pandas, not so much.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I'm driving down the road last week and someone did something that makes me think, as we all have, there's never a police car around when you want one. Why this led me to Warcraft I don't recall but it did. I am one of those types that is very rule oriented, and black and white. If you tell me this is the rule I will continue to go by that rule until you can convince me it needs to be changed. I will make inferences and deductions based upon that rule. Therefore, I don't deal with change well and I don't deal with others who "break the rules" very well either. Or at least my view of what the rules should be.

After much inner debate over this subject I have come to the conclusion that the lack of policing in WoW is good. I have had my fair share of assholes over the years, and at times wish there was some secret GM lurking around watching all the unsavory bits that float through trade chat and slamming discipline down upon the wrong-doer, but alas there is not. At least not when we wish they were looking.

So what do we have? Well let's see....

We have the secret police. Those that we turn in via the spam-o-matic button and it's a secret if anything actually happens.

We have the spies. For those of you familiar with the Moon Guard/Goldshire brothel fiasco, Blizz does indeed put people out there to take notes and dole out bans as needed when enough people have complained about a particular area or server.

We have the FBI. Where you can officially turn in a specific person for doing something against the TOS. Usually harassment, bigotry, or hatred remarks. In my 6 years of WoW I have used this function twice to report a specific person.

Other than that, Blizzard has left a remarkably large terrain for us to police ourselves, and given us a set of tools to use.

Turn it Off - you can turn off all or some of your chats including Trade and General.

Ignore - If you have one or two hundred specific people you don't like you can ignore them. One of the additional wonder features with ignore is you will never get grouped with them. Though beware of the alt.

Spammers beware - you can report as spam. This is generally reserved for gold farmers but I have used it when I have reached my limit on anal jokes. I just begin reporting. Sorry, but I use trade and I don't really want to see your ass jokes. If that's the tool I have to get you to stop then I will damn well use it. Hopefully you will get the message and a short ban.

One of my favorite tools tho is the pa-troller. One of those people who love to troll the trolls. We have one in my guild. He does not use foul language or anything he simply changes the subject. It is quite funny to see and I've helped him on more than one occasion. If you get a couple people singing or saying Ninetails for long enough the ass jokes disappear.

This is one of the best examples of self-policing I can give. That there are people who will take the initiative to derail the idiots in trade and make us all laugh for a few minutes. It's priceless.

So there you have it. From the no frills all rules person I say...no police! We seem to be doing ok on our own with the occasional smack down from on-high.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Life is always moving right along isn't it? It's hard to find time to catch up on my blog reading, let alone blog writing, but I miss you. So much has happened and yet these last 5 months I can honestly say nothing has changed. Even in our short lifespans change can be incrementally slow. Sorry, I'm being cryptic. I am still in an unsold house, living with a man I'm trying to divorce who enjoys making it difficult to do so.

My WoW time is limited to a few scant days a week where I try to bury my head in the sand and forget my troubles. It usually consists of PVP, raiding and dailies. I am still working Molten Front dailies, and for some reason dailies right now feel like doing the dishes. It is just something that needs to be done. I normally enjoy the grind a bit but since I am feeling oh so dreary, nothing is appealing.

There is so much to write about lately too and I have been terribly absent. I am trying to keep myself from going off on all these tangents in this post and start talking all the different WoW related stuff I'd like to share. I did go to Blizzcon after all, and have a ton on opinions on a ton of shit but I will save them for their individual rants to come.

Lets just say I will try not to be so absent in the near future but you might have to put up with some personal stuff tossed in. :)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Last week a guildie from my main guild, Kaldorei Guardians (A), sent me a text and wanted to know if I felt like hopping on. It seems they had gotten a small party of guildies together and were fishing in Orgrimaar. I asked if the Horde were allowing it and she replied that it seemed so so far.

I logged on my worgen druid, who is in nearly a full set of healing pvp gear and they summoned me over. Right to the center of the goblin district LOL. No one seemed to really notice us. I quickly moved the group to the Valley of Honor so that we could work on Old Crafty. After a short length of time other guildmates got on-line and we began adding to our party. I began to invite friends along as well. Once we had about 6 we started to get some notice and hordies were popping up everywhere to come look at us and decide what to do about this Alliance infestation.
Once they outnumbered us they began their assault. I have to say that we did pretty well. We began to gather more people from our guild and wound up with two tanks, three healers and some random dps. Our group grew to about nine people and that group fluctuated throughout the afternoon as people went to do housework or whatever.
We spent the next 2 hours running around Orgrimaar, dieing, running back, rezzing in various areas, and generally trying to be a pain in the ass to the Horde. It was tremendous fun! A bit masochistic it seems but we were having a blast. We took another few hours and traveled about the Horde cities getting Wrath of the Alliance.
Never have I spent so much time in world PVP, being on a Normal server we just don't get this chance very often unless you go out and instigate it. We really had a lot of fun and are seriously considering how to form up a rated battle group. It is in the works and we hope to have a night set up very soon.

I would recommend to anyone that you get a few guildies together and go harass the other faction for a while. You never know what fun and mischief you might get into!

Hello there,
So here we are. It's been too long. In an effort to get my house on the market I have been spending a lot of time cleaning. Between that and work there has not been a lot of time for blogging. There has been a good deal of time for reading in between these hectic days. I found my stash of Jane Austen books while packing and have been re-reading them. Oh the joy of books! Jane Austen is rather easy and innocuous. It doesn't take any of my much needed daytime brain power to get through and they are rather enjoyable stories. At least to girls.

But what does this have to do with WoW you might ask? Nothing at all :p, I was just sharing.:)

Ok so the latest WoW stuff...hmmm.
We're raiding very well. For going one day a week we are getting down 3-4 bosses, not the fastest but not bad either. We are adding another day in the near future.

The new LFG (looking for guild) feature is good and bad. I like that so many people are interested in our guild, but it is a pain to sift through. People write the craziest things on applications and we don't even consider anyone unless they put in some comment. With all the influx of new guildies, guild drama has again raised it's ugly head. I am seriously considering a moratorium on new recruits until this batch settles down.

The new ZA/ZG dungeons are fun and a bit complex. I have had too many PUG wipes on them already and I'm not playing a lot. Hmm...that's not so good. The loot that is dropping is 353-359 purple and is very decent. It is good for filling in those missing epic spots you may have left in your wardrobe if you're not raiding extensively.

There are new cooking and fishing dailies in other cities. If you're bored with doing the standard Orgrimaar/Stormwind ones you can go in search of new. You can only choose one cooking and one fishing of the entire set. Such as, if you do the cooking daily in Darnassus, the other cooking quests will not be available to you. Only one a day regardless of which city you do it in.

BLIZZCON 2011!! I haz gots tix! Woot! And an awesome plan. A guildie of mine found a ticket to buy also, and he happens to be the one who got me the room last year. I am so excited!!
My travel buddy will be Fimlys from Twisted Nether and my roommate will be a guildie that I get to drag around with me to all the fabulous shin-digs. I am set to go! Just have to finalize the travel arrangements and we're good. I cannot wait!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Wow it's been far too long since I've posted. I have something in the works, but it's going to take more brain power then I can muster at the moment.
RL has taken over and when I'm playing WoW it's to escape. However I am making progress all around so here's the highlights.

KG is now raiding current content and we're very excited. We're moving our raid nights around looking for a better time for more people. So far it is looking good.

Kaiote (boomkin) is now 525 skinning/LW which is nice. Now for pattern collection. Lots and lots o' leather needed.

I have finally completed the goblin starting area. I find it quirky but not as meaningful as the worgen area. The way that the goblins are brought into the fold by Thrall seems contrived. In one respect though it has the same feeling as the worgen area; it's all super tightly packed into 12 levels and it seems to move very fast or skip parts of the story or something. Something is missing it seems.

My troll hunter is 84 now. Eventually she'll make it. It's just tedious bringing up yet another toon through these 5 zones. I already feel like I've done it too many times. Cata zones have worn out their welcome for me already.

I've been playing my BE shadow priest a little too. And, so you all don't think I've gone horde or something, my human hunter as well. I am contemplating a dwarf shammy, it's still turning around in the back of my mind.

OK, that's the scoop. I hope to be back to normal in a few months so please don't unsubscribe to me if you can wait it out.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

I feel like writing today but about nothing in particular. So here is the Saturday random drop? lol

Got my druid to 85 and was really excited to take her to Tol Barad. She is a leatherworker and those crocs have just been calling my name. It was a blast but boy I need better gear. She is currently ilevel 308, so we have a little to go yet before heroics. She's about half way through Uldum with only Twilight Highlands left to go after. Then the dailies will strike and we'll see how long I will keep up with her.

My DK, who hit 85 a while ago, is still sitting. So I guess the love has worn off for that one. I enjoyed the leveling and mining for volatiles but almost as soon as she hit 85 I quit logging in. I am so fickle.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

I don't post non-WoW stuff very often but I wanted to share something from my life these past few months.

In August I realized I had a medical issue. Nothing bad, nothing that couldn't be taken care of with medication. I went to see a doctor about it and was put on some meds that I will probably have to take for the next few years. Soon after that I began having sleep problems. I mean really weird awful sleep problems. I had a really hard time getting to sleep and when I could finally get to sleep I was unable to stay asleep for more than 4-6 hours at a time. You might think that's no big deal. Let me tell you that after a few months of 4 hours of sleep your brain just does not function the way it should. Add to that I quit smoking in early December and you have a recipe for utter crazy.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

After weeks of Tol Barad dailies I have come to a conclusion. I am going to be nice. Now I'm not a not-nice person in game generally, though I am a keep-to-myself type player lately. I don't mind grouping for quests or asking for help in general, but I will usually wait and see if I can either manage it myself or hope that someone else comes along who needs the same thing I do.
I am usually nice to others and prefer to strike up at least small conversations in PuG's just to break the ice. I generally try to help others who ask or who are near me and need it.

As I had posted not long ago it feels like there are not a lot of people around while questing. The phasing has thrown us all into our own private Idaho of sorts. So when I turned 85 and started working TB dailies I was quite annoyed at A) all the crazy people pulling everything in sight and B) all the crazy people ganking my mobs. It pissed me off that I had to fight others of my same faction to kill that guy in the tower or grab some stupid fish from a rack. After a few weeks of this I found I hated it and I was beginning to hate all those other players out there who were being crazy asshats. It was a big huge I hate-you fest, with everyone running around trying to get what they needed as quickly as possible and screw everyone else. I also found I was starting to act that way. I was running past people who had gotten caught by a bunch of mobs thinking "hey what a moron" while I grabbed that piece of lumber he was headed for. The problem was, in the next area I would become the moron and wonder how all these jerks could run past me and leave me to die! Ha ha karma!

So I decided to turn the tables and go back to my old "let me help you" self. You see I was always one of the first people in my guild to say yes I'll come help you with that elite or run through that dungeon. I don't mind killing things over and over and I don't mind doing dungeons I've done several times. I enjoy just playing, especially with guildies. It gives me an opportunity to spend time with different people in the guild and get to know them and that's important as a GL. There are boundaries of course, but generally I was the helpful sort. The last few months I've been a bit lethargic and have tended to say "no sorry" I'm doing my own thing right now.

So what am I doing differently?
In Tol Barad:
1) Help anyone else in front of me that is killing something (yes I have even helped Hordies). Even if it's just to throw a dot. Many times I've been in a situation in TB where I've been overwhelmed by mobs and I've watched people run by me and leave me to die. I will not do that to others any longer.
2) Invite as many as possible from my faction that are standing around waiting for one of those local bosses to spawn (i.e. Largo or Wellson) so as many people as possible can complete it together.
3) Take my time. I chose to come here to do the dailies. It is not a race. If I don't have time to do it I shouldn't be here. It is NOT important to run past or over others to get something that will respawn in 7 seconds. It's not worth it. Nor is my blood pressure.
4) It does not make me feel good to be an asshole, so don't do it!

In General:
1) I have a do not ignore policy with my officers. If someone asks for help someone must answer them. Even if it's to say I'm sorry I can't help right now. So at least the guildie asking does not feel like they are being ignored by everyone. I personally also try to offer a solution such as I can in 30 minutes if you can wait. If it's something long-ish I might suggest another day. Then I follow up and show up when I say I'm going to.
2) Be brave in trade chat, and be courteous. If I know answers to questions people are asking I answer them. Respectfully. Many times I will simply whisper them directly. I have gotten responses from others that ranged all the way to sending me 25g for helping answer a question. (I sent it back by the way. I didn't answer for a reward, but I thought it was a very nice gesture.)

My goal is to treat others the way I would want to be treated, and without the expectation that others will do the same. Let me tell you right now...they won't. My intention is not to be nice to reap rewards, but to know that I did it. That is the point. I am doing it to feel better about who and what I am in game and what I want to represent to my community.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I haven't been writing much lately because really there's not much that has struck my fancy to write about. I am pursuing my worgen druid and my troll hunter with a few others thrown into the mix. My priest is 81 as well as my warrior. If I have to do Hyjal or Vash'jir one more time I think I'm going to /wrists! This was not a really good idea Blizz...5 levels and 6 zones do not make for very much diversity here.
My warlock is 85 and doing heroics fairly regularly but I've had more fun leveling others. This is indeed the xpac of the alt.
I'm slowly getting some things in RL wrapped up and caught up so I hope to be here more often, if only just to post some Blog Az shared topics.

Oh...I did join the Rift beta for a day. The only thing I can say is it's very WoW-like in the way it feels, it's easy to just roll a character and start playing. The mechanics and play are a bit slow. One thing it has over WoW though was that you can customize the UI. All aspects of the screen are able to be resized and moved around. I do wish Blizz would do that.

Friday, January 14, 2011

I felt like this part of this topic deserved it's own post. I'd like to talk about some of the areas I leveled through, and share a bit of my experience. I wish I'd have had the foresight to share this as I was leveling but I think I was having too much fun.

I chose a rather strange leveling path. I picked particular areas that I was most interested in seeing.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

This is Kaiote. She is a level 64 worgen druid and she is the new addition to my WoW family, and I am totally in love with her right now. I waited for quite a while for her to arrive. I had started a druid once before but stopped when I heard that worgen druids would be introduced. I wanted to enjoy the entire leveling experience with this new race.

Ever so patiently I chose and saved a name and then, with heavy anticipation, I waited for my fuzzy to arrive. I cannot say I am disappointed, nor can I say I'm completely happy with the worgen race, but it has been a lot of fun to learn a new class and enjoy the new content all at the same time.

A quick foreward..... I have been wanting to post for a few weeks now but I have so many topics floating around I haven't been able to pick one. That being said, this is something that is not one of them. lol

What do you do when you've run out of hutzpah, gas, determination....just the plain ole' will to keep playing? I have hit that little wall. I have not been stirred up or excited about Cataclysm since I was at Blizzcon. I've run out of steam a little bit, and I'm just not feelin' it this time.